What is it about “getting out of town,” specifically on a road trip, that so many of us love? Does the long and often-unpredictable journey exhilarate us? Or does changing the everyday routine bring us that sense of adventure and excitement? I can remember many childhood road trips to the coast or to a lake to camp or north or south on I-5 to visit friends or family. I watched landmarks pass by at just about every mile, because we'd taken those trips so many times. These days, I enjoy taking new trips as much as familiar and well-loved trips. Alaska is so big that I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of exploring it. In fact, I can guarantee I will NEVER visit every place I want to in Alaska. Besides the places on the limited road system, Alaska has countless villages and towns that can only be reached by plane, snowmachine/4-wheeler, or boat. This state has endless amazing places to experience and explore. My husband and I took a road trip north last weekend (we got caught behind this fire coming home), and what gorgeous weather we had! From Anchorage we drove to Byers Lake Campground in Denali State Park. Then we spent some time in Fairbanks and at Chena Hot Springs Resort (I’ll save that for my next post). But FIRST, we started the weekend with some excitement right out our kitchen window!

(My pansies are now mostly gone, thanks to either a hungry bear or moose the other night!)

Friday morning we got on the road and headed north. As my dad always used to say (and I agree), something about driving north feels right. For a family with Alaska in our blood, that is certainly true. When you're already in Alaska and you're driving north, well, you just know more adventure awaits the farther you drive.

After a beautiful drive and tolerable construction delays, we arrived at Byers Lake. Once we settled in at a campsite and took a walk around the large campground, we covered ourselves in bug spray and sunscreen and set off for a lakeside hike. We wanted to go at least 1.8 miles to the remote campground on the other side of the lake and then back, but I was hoping to keep going when we reached that and do the whole 5.3-mile loop around the lake.

Beautiful vegetation was abundant, as you can see below! Wild roses and Siberian irises were just some of the colorful flowers sprinkling the landscape. Can someone identify the green plant in the top right corner? I see it a lot but I can't remember what it is.

This suspension bridge was fun to cross, but it was in the heart of a marsh and the mosquitos were thick!

We did complete the loop around the lake, and the views were beautiful from every angle. Once we got out of the marsh, the mosquitos weren't bad, although if you stopped at all they started to swarm. First rule of hiking in Alaska: keep moving!

We did encounter a few bear signs. We saw two piles of scat and one fresh black bear paw print in the mud. I was toting a bear bell and bear spray, and my husband was packing a .44, so with all that combined we felt decently safe. Bear bells are a pretty awesome investment of a few dollars. In general, if a bear hears you coming ahead of time, it'll wander off. It's when you surprise it that it will react. If you surprise a mama with cubs, she'll likely be extremely aggressive. Or if you come upon a bear that's eating (and therefore protecting) a kill, it might be ready and willing to kill whatever is encroaching on and threatening its meal.

After a good sleep, we enjoyed the beautiful morning light over the lake and then quickly got to the most important part of camping—food! I had planned meals that wouldn't need a camp stove, so we cooked sausages over the fire and my husband discovered an effective way to warm the cinnamon rolls I'd made and brought along. Food always tastes better while camping!

We got back on the road, heading north once again. But we stopped just outside the campground at the Alaska Veterans Memorial. The view of Denali (known to many as Mt. McKinley, but Denali is the Alaska Native name and what we all call it here) was great! This is a wonderful place for a quick stop. The tributes to various Alaskan military branches are inspirational, and toilets and a small gift shop are accessible from the parking lot.

In my next post, I'll share about the rest of our weekend road trip, including a one-night stay at a geothermal hot springs in the Alaskan wilderness!

Mary Anne, you're correct. To this day I still feel "right" when I'm driving *northward.* It's got to be that Alaska DNA that's still in me (and definitely passed on from Mom and me to you).

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Mary Anne Brady

6/22/2015 04:41:58 am

Thanks for passing on that DNA!

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Wendy

6/20/2015 09:39:19 pm

Hi Mary Anne, such interesting places you have described. The pictures of the wildflowers and plants are Lovely, and oh the hiking sure sounds fun! Your wilderness breakfast looked Delish, your Jonathan is surely a genius with his cinn. roll warmer : )
Loving your blogs, I read every one, Love you both!

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Wendy

6/20/2015 09:40:17 pm

And Those Bear Pictures!

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Mary Anne Brady

6/22/2015 04:43:13 am

Thank you, Wendy! I love your encouraging comments! We sure have fun up here in AK. Hope you can visit someday and maybe you two can motorcycle all around. I have lots of biker friends up here.

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Bonnie

6/21/2015 12:18:52 pm

What a great outing! I love all the pictures, and great description.

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Mary Anne Brady

6/22/2015 04:44:10 am

Thank you! I think this is going to be our most adventurous summer yet. We're making time for some of the many wonders Alaska has to offer. :)

Mary Anne, what bears near your window, wow! I see you had very admirable trip along Alaskan road and rivers.This bridge seems not enough durable, doesn't it?

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Mary Anne Brady

6/22/2015 04:46:44 am

It was a wonderful trip! The bridge was over very shallow, slow water, so if it DID break, we were not worried about much real danger from it. We did also drive across a bridge over a VERY deep canyon! It was beautiful, and we stopped to look, but we didn't get too close to the edge!

Good to see your summer too! Looks absolutely stunning - and to think we're excited about having a rabbit in the garden when you have bears!

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Mary Anne Brady

6/24/2015 04:04:05 am

They're certainly more intimidating, but I get excited about the little creatures too! We have lots of robins and squirrels in our yard as well.

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Lisa

7/2/2015 08:30:24 am

Love the Bears!!! and all the pics I missed out on in the past posts! Love seeing your adventures! Alaska looks like such a nice place! :)

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Mary Anne Brady

7/7/2015 01:52:27 am

Thanks Lisa! It's an amazing place! A lot of people are too scared of winter to move here, but winter is really not that bad!

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Hello!

I'm a mom of twins, published author, editor, amateur photographer, and nature enthusiast with an unlimited supply of curiosity. Come discover the little wonders I find during my everyday life in Alaska.